The situation in Afghanistan, which carries risks for Central Asia and the entire CIS space, raises concern.

This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin during an online meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth.

“The situation calls for stepping up joint efforts, primarily in the counter-terrorism and anti-drug sectors,” the Russian leader stressed.

According to him, the concentration of extremist and terrorist groups, including ISIS *, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan ** and Al-Qaeda ***, is clearly visible near the borders of the CIS.

“According to our data, the number of ISIS members in the north of Afghanistan is about two thousand people.

Their leaders are hatching plans to spread their influence over the Central Asian states, over the Russian regions, and are betting on inciting ethnic and confessional conflicts and religious hatred.

Terrorists are trying to penetrate the territory of the Commonwealth, including disguised as refugees, ”the Russian president said.

Putin also touched upon the topic of the transitional government formed by the Taliban ****, noting that it does not reflect the entire palette of Afghan society.

“At the same time, the intention to hold general elections has been announced, measures are being taken to resume the normal work of government bodies.

Together within the CIS, we will undoubtedly monitor that these promises are backed up by deeds, monitor this, ”the Russian leader said, adding that there is no need to rush to officially recognize the Taliban, but we need to interact with them.

In particular, Putin said about the need to support the process of inter-Afghan reconciliation and strive to normalize the situation in Afghanistan.

“We can all contribute to the resumption of the work of the enlarged troika, meaning Russia, the United States and China with the participation of Pakistan, I would ask you to support this, as well as the Moscow format, in which the key countries of the region, including Central Asia, participate.

We are leading the way to holding meetings within the framework of these mechanisms in Moscow as soon as possible in October, ”the Russian leader said.

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin

  • kremlin.ru

As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier, the Moscow format is "all the Central Asian countries, Iran, China, Pakistan, India, the United States, Russia and the Afghans themselves." 

According to the Russian president's special envoy for Afghanistan, director of the Second Asia Department of the Foreign Ministry Zamir Kabulov, the Moscow format meeting will take place on October 20.

The day before, a meeting of the "expanded troika" (Russia, USA, China, Pakistan) will be held, during which the parties will try to work out a common position on the changing situation in Afghanistan.

The fact that the military-political crisis in this Islamic republic is a serious threat to the security of the CIS countries was stated by the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon during an online meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth.

According to him, Dushanbe expects that his proposed idea of ​​creating a single list of terrorist and extremist organizations banned on the territory of the CIS countries will be jointly implemented.

Afghan question

Let us remind you that the situation in Afghanistan was destabilized after first the United States and then the NATO countries began to withdraw their contingent from the Islamic republic.

Against this background, the confrontation between the Taliban terrorist group and government forces has intensified.

As a result, the Taliban managed to gain control over almost the entire territory of the state, and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in September during a press conference following the high-level week of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, the hasty withdrawal of US troops and other NATO countries "was carried out without understanding the consequences", as a result of which in Afghanistan there are many weapons left.

“Apparently, we all need to make sure that these weapons are not used for non-constructive purposes,” Lavrov emphasized, recalling that the Taliban promised to fight against extremism and terrorism, including IS and Al-Qaeda, and also “not to project instability on their neighbors. "

As the Russian minister emphasized, the most important thing now is "to keep these promises."

At the same time, he noted that the main priority of the Russian Federation is the inadmissibility of the spread of extremism to neighboring states and the persistence of terrorist threats in Afghanistan.

"We will in every possible way support the resolve of the Taliban, which they have declared, to fight ISIS and other terrorist groups, to ensure that it is embodied in practical steps," Lavrov said.

In October, at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the countries participating in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, the Russian Foreign Minister noted NATO's desire to redeploy its forces from Afghanistan to other zones of the Asian region, and at the same time send flows of Afghan refugees there.

At the same time, according to Lavrov, the bloc bypasses the issue of the responsibility of the alliance for the consequences of its "twenty-year experiments" on the territory of Afghanistan.

  • Afghan refugees

  • © REUTERS / Mohammad Ismail

“The international community, especially the neighbors of Afghanistan, is invited to deal with the problems,” he added.

"Synchronize Actions"

According to Alexei Podberezkin, director of the MGIMO Center for Military-Political Research, the main danger for Russia and the CIS countries is the terrorist threat, which has increased many times over in connection with the situation in Afghanistan.

“If the current Taliban government cannot take control of the situation, extremely radical other terrorist groups will impose their vision on it.

It is in order to synchronize actions to resolve this problem that next week there will be two international meetings - the enlarged troika and the Moscow format.

At the same time, the Russian president not in vain called on the CIS countries to support the work of these sites.

After all, the Afghan issue in one way or another concerns all the states of the Commonwealth, especially Tajikistan, "the expert emphasized in an interview with RT.

Podberezkin recalled that this republic has the longest border with Afghanistan.  

“In addition, a significant number of Tajiks live in Afghan territories,” the analyst added.

He also noted that the unstable situation in Afghanistan could have an extremely negative impact on the situation in all CIS countries, given the flows of refugees and the increased risk of the spread of drugs and terrorism.

“Therefore, the Afghan issue worries not only Russia, but all the states of the Commonwealth,” Podberezkin said.

In turn, orientalist, political scientist Elena Suponina believes that Vladimir Putin's statement indicates that Russia understands the seriousness of the situation around Afghanistan.

"The words of the Russian leader also indicate that Moscow is ready to continue to coordinate efforts to combat the threat of terrorism emanating from the Islamic republic with other states," she explained in a conversation with RT.

For this reason, the issue of interaction between the CIS countries is extremely important, Suponina noted.

“The hasty and extremely poorly organized American withdrawal from Afghanistan has increased the terrorist threat and the threat of drug trafficking.

This cannot be done without very close coordination between Russia and other members of the Commonwealth, ”the analyst said.

The international community now has to "sort out the consequences of the actions of the US and NATO in Afghanistan," said Alexei Podberezkin.

“It was no accident that the United States left mountains of weapons in the republic, which have now fallen into the hands of various terrorist groups.

All this was done to destabilize the situation in Afghanistan itself and in Central Asia as a whole.

Washington deliberately decided to create a zone of turbulence in this region, ”the expert said.

  • Withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan

  • © ZUMA Wire / Legion Media

Podberezkin explained that in such conditions, the Russian Federation and other countries are not in vain to recognize the Taliban's rule, given the activation of terrorist groups.

“At the same time, Moscow's approach is aimed at strengthening interaction with representatives of the Taliban.

However, no one knows how the Taliban will behave in the future and whether they will be able to take control of radical groups banned in other countries, including IS and Al-Qaeda, the expert added.

At the same time, Podberezkin drew attention to the colossal experience of Russia in negotiations with the Taliban.

“Moscow has been conducting a dialogue with the Taliban for a long time, and Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are actively establishing contacts with it,” the analyst said, expressing hope for a positive result of the talks to be held in Moscow next week.

“I am sure that after political declarations, during and after these meetings, the parties will take new steps to normalize the situation in Afghanistan,” the expert concluded.

* "Islamic State" (IS) - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of December 29, 2014.

** "Islamic Party of Turkestan" (former "Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan") - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated 02.14.2003.

*** "Al-Qaeda" - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated 02.14.2003.

**** "Taliban" - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of February 14, 2003.